Sunday, May 27, 2007

I saw The Fountain today and really appreciated it. I'm fond of heavy topics like death and the afterlife. I've never been one to be able to ignore the big questions. I've neglected many things but certain things just eat at me until I give them proper attention. I'm very thankful for this tugging. Without it I'm afraid I would be lost. I thought the film did a beautiful job of showing the loss of fighting death particularly when there is still life to tend. I imagine that any man who loves his wife will connect with this film on some level. It was so sad to watch him throw away his last days with her but at the same time I completely understood his fear and what drove him to make the sad choice. I like stories like this that feel almost like a poem, where the rational of the piece eludes you at first leaving you a bit confused but at the same time there's something there totally connecting with your soul. And then, when all said and done you find the pieces have fallen into place. I feel like I participated in a story like this. Anyway, I'd recommend it. The only thing I'd change, and this would be done begrudgingly because it was beautiful, would be to change the concept of his spaceship to something a bit more recognizable. I'm afraid that I wouldn't have gotten that that was a spaceship and thus the far future if I hadn't read that somewhere before watching the film. My wife didn't get it until I told her after the film and I'm not sure how anybody could've perceived it as a spaceship without some help. Maybe we're just not very bright. But I would've done something very subtle to suggest that it was a manmade vessel. Ok, I'm out till next time.

Sunday, May 20, 2007

I did these two sketches in between groups coming by our garage sale yesterday morning. The turnout was a bit crappy and I ended up donating a good chunk of our old stuff to a charity after the sale. At least things are a bit more organized here now and somebody can use what we didn't have room for. That's all I have time to write though. Things to do, places to go.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

I think I mentioned this but I've been systematically studying different aspects of illustration for the last couple of months and recently I've started working on creating a full scene. It's a lot for me to juggle and I keep dropping the balls but as one of my bosses told me "I think you just have to try it". There's no figuring it out until I fail enough times I guess.